Faculty Projects

Faculty members in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures collaborate on a number of research projects focusing on the ancient Mediterranean and Near East from the Bronze Age through the era of Late Antiquity. Our department is nationally known for its unusual reach and distinctive areas of thematic focus.

Our research strengths include:

• History of ancient religions
• Study of ancient texts–their physical form, their transmission, and their treatment by our ancient counterparts, the earliest editors and commentators
• Study of the Roman world from many disciplinary perspectives and across the entire chronological span of the Roman state (more than 1,200 years)

Our faculty have received several major research awards, including recognition from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute for Advanced Study, McKnight Foundation, and National Humanities Center.

Learn more about our faculty research projects, including Melissa Harl Sellew’s work on early Christian lives in Egypt and Bernie Levinson's work on ancient scrolls from the Dead Sea.